go do jujutsu or judo or even yes AIKIDO! you won't find kalaripayit in the US, and if you do it is probably bullshit... books or videos are also likely to be a rip off... kalaripayit is a traditional Indian martial art and is not any kind of orthodox 'organization' individual teachers teach usually in their village to locals... if you really want to study go to india...

I'm curious, how do people find out about these really rare arts and what draws them to them over arts that you can find in your home town? Is it because it is so original that you want to try it, or that it is so rare you think it will be cool to tell people you train in it?

I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just asking how people come to decide they want to train in uber_rare_art_01

Kalaripayit is an ancient Indian martial art that uses pressure*point strikes, yoga stretching and venous strangely shaped weapons. Its name literally means "battlefield training." Many researchers theorize that it was the basis upon which the Chinese martial arts developed because they contend that Bodhidharma, the Chinese Buddhist monk who taught at Shaolin Temple, would have learned kalaripayit in India and transplanted it, along with his religion, to China.

Few kalaripayit practitioners teach anywhere in the world* even in India. Much of the art is said to have degenerated into a martial dance.

So uh... not so much going to find that art.

I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just asking how people come to decide they want to train in uber_rare_art_01

Ignorance of what they want and what they expect the art to do. If it's very little known you can fill in the missing stuff with your own fantasies. Expect a "deadly secrets of the Kallaripayyat" or "street lethal kallaripayyat" any day now.

I can understand kinda. When I was still a wee lad I thought boxing and wrestling were **** - I mean how good could they be since you could find them at my jr high? certainly they weren't like the spinning high-kicking death dances that "real" martial arts use in the movies.

I was a dumb kid.

You can't make people smarter. You can expose them to information, but your responsibility stops there.

hie, i m very new to martial arts, and by gods grace ive managed to find a forum like this, places like this keep the art pure,

in any case, i m no pro martial artist, infact i drink alot and am pot belleyed, but i m training in the gym now,

anyways, i m very interested in Kallaripayyat and Capoiera, but unlike Kallaripayyat, Capoiera is very well known,

i was wondering if anyone here, at all, has any resources for Kalllaripayyat, training videos, or manuals or something!

thanks

p.s could you also please post other resources forums or good Training video stores for me....... thank you.

There is not Kallaripayyat in the US. I have seen it in India and FitTv had a little segment on it. It a neat art but nothing uber spectacular that isn't done now. If you want to learn old Indian weaponry and wrestling then hop a flight to India but realize it will be more for cultural preservation (weapons part) more than anything else.

I'm curious, how do people find out about these really rare arts and what draws them to them over arts that you can find in your home town? Is it because it is so original that you want to try it, or that it is so rare you think it will be cool to tell people you train in it?

I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just asking how people come to decide they want to train in uber_rare_art_01

Xenophilia - basically means an attraction to or curiosity about foreign or unusual things (people, cultures, martial arts, whatever). Not so much "if it's strange it must be better", but rather "it's strange, therefore it's interesting".

Re. Kalaripayatt in the USA, I know that a college professor named Phillip Zarrilli did some intensive training in Kerala, India and was teaching some of the basics to his own students in the US during the early-mid '80s. He now works and lives in the UK, though.

I'm curious, how do people find out about these really rare arts and what draws them to them over arts that you can find in your home town? Is it because it is so original that you want to try it, or that it is so rare you think it will be cool to tell people you train in it?

I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just asking how people come to decide they want to train in uber_rare_art_01

On a related note, I oringinally wanted to start Jiu-jitsu because no one in my town knew anything about it, which to me was worth a lot because everyone and their dog took either TKD, TSD, or Judo in my home town. And most of those guys were pricks.

As linked above, Paul Whitrod teaches this art in London. I think one of the attractions of it is its extreme age - its roots are tied into the roots of Yoga and predates anything Greek or Chinese by thousands of years.

Any Western or Westernised MA (except weapon art) is mere thuggery compared to that kind of pedigree. What intelligent person with a thirst for knowledge wouldn't be drawn to it, given a nudge in the right direction?